This is my second Meetup hike again in the last couple of weeks. Everyone on The Mountaineers and Discord seem to have received the memo that the weather was going to be too inclement to go out. But not Jeremy, he’s unapologetically hosting hikes and I appreciate him for that!
I haven’t slept well the last couple of nights, likely on account of the latest Halloween festivities. Wow I’m not used to drinking and not sleeping. It caused me to have a totally crazy (like actually insane) dream. The Heath Ledger Joker was in it and at any point in the dream he was either sharp shooting at me (once in a sky scrapper), or stabbing me. Holy smokes.
Nonetheless, I reached the Greenlake Park in Ride just at 6:30am. These hikes are the best. You meet literally the most eclectic mix of individuals. And while, we agreed on the ride back later that day, everyone is so diverse, the events are always so cordial and enjoyable. Sophie had mentioned the hike and was the reason I ended up going. She and I ended up riding in Scott’s new Toyota SUV. In his car, also was a fellow named Matthew.
We all met at the Northbend Safeway for Starbucks (I brought my own coffee in a thermos) and last minute provisions (I’ve been getting their breakfast burritos and the sandwich lady has been hooking it up with extra eggs). I used to take pain packing softboiled eggs, nuts and jerky. But I think all that overhead detracts from the experience by making it too complicated. With these safeway burritos it’s like breakfast, lunch and snack for $4.99.
We reached the Hyak parking lot area around 8:30am, and ascended the Forest Service 9070 until we reached the Silver Peak Trailhead. There was about 6” of snow at the trailhead and it was raining. The forecast for Snoqualmie had mentioned no snow at the base and 3” at the summit. Because of this I thought I’d be fine not bringing any gaiters or snowshoes. Heck I thought there’d only be an inch of two of snow at the top.
To my surprise, however, there was about 2’ of snow 2hrs into the hike (maybe 1500ft higher). And once we reached the base of the summit, we realized that it was blowing. Hard. Moreover, the snow level had risen another 1’, so we were postholing. Without gaiters, the snow was getting into my boots. I had worn my three season boots and we wholly unprepared- I definitely looked like a Meetup hiker (no offense). Or to put it in a better way, I made the same kind of mistake I’d made a couple years ago when I hadn’t really ever hiked before. Dang, but I guess a little regression is part and parcel to long-term development.
Everyone in our car decided to turn around at 200ft from the summit. It was a complete whiteout and we weren’t prepared for the wind. We then started our descent. I was feeling tired on the descent and wasn’t feeling the ‘high’ I sometimes feel when I’m hiking down. I did have a thought about the nature of seasons though. I thought about summer and how it’s spontaneous, faster, and lighter-weight, in terms of gear. Winter, on the other hand is more methodical, slower, and the gear has to be heavier.
Further down, I separated from the group and felt a little emotional. I felt that there’s like a certain maturity that comes emotionally moving on from something that’s been bugging you. A maturity in honestly not being worried about whatever incident or situation caused you the discomfort/turmoil.
We reconvened at the car, where Sophie influenced the group towards going to South Fork. It’s expensive (like $20 for a sandwich), but good for large groups. On the way out and down the FS 9070 road we saw some funny things I’d like to learn more about. One are all the warning signs about wastewater spray in the wood uphill from the road. The other is a mystery door that seems to lead underground somewhere.
The partying before heading out to Silver Peak. Maybe the next morning or the day after, I don’t remember. I took a couple days to recover.
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